The emotion of Gabriele Sandri’s brother and nephew being welcomed by Curva Nord before the game, the raw adrenalin of Antonio Candreva’s sliding celebration after a 30 yard strike against his boyhood club and the elation as Stefano Mauri and Cristian Brocchi gleefully waved three fingers each in the air after the final whistle.

We are the padroni di Roma, the masters of Rome, yet again and as we prepare to face that other hated club, Juventus, this weekend it is a good time to pause and reflect.

The last week or so has been a haphazard journey of sorts for all Lazio people as we lurched from a potential crisis in a 4-0 loss in Catania to a comfortable win over Greek giants Panathinaikos whilst questioning everything in between.

And of course, we won the Derby, making everything else achieved or failed so far this year irrelevant compared to that one ultimate success.

The Juventus Stadium is the next station and the Old Lady is certainly the greatest hate figure after we’ve dealt with i fiji stupidi de Roma, the stupid sons of Rome, to borrow from a brilliant banner held up at the Derby.

Yet, if Roma are the opposite of everything we stand for, Juventus are the opposite of everything we feel and understand.

A Juventus fan does not understand the emotion, the elation and the suffering which we experienced in even just the ninety-five minutes of the Derby.

Emotion of such extremes is reserved for fans of clubs such as Lazio, Roma, Napoli, Genoa and the small clubs from the provinces in between.

Supporting a ‘big’ cannot possibly compare.

Losing, even gallantly, is no cause of joy and winning is routine and a minimal requirement.

A Juventus fan cannot cite a connection to the city or the heart of its history as his or her great connection to the club because their city’s club is Torino and their fan base exists in a wide collection of peoples from Varese to Reggio di Calabria and across the ditch to New York.

Their one uniting feature is their lust for victory regardless of how it arrives. That they are simply la Juve and they are the best is all that matters to a juventino.

Remember this when we take the field on Saturday against Juve; what we know and feel is different and we’re a part of something special.

It will take a mountainous effort for us to best them on the field but the emotions will be just that extra extreme off it.